Preparing yourself to die well

Robertson Davies: By preparation for death I don't mean folding your hands or going around forgiving a lot of people you don't want to forgive: it's preparing for a richness, a good and glorious end.

Tom Harpur: But how does one prepare?

Robertson Davies: You have to come to terms with yourself and your place in the scheme of life – something a good many people don't want to do. In the last century we have extended the normal life-span. Many seem to believe that this means we have extended the period when they should enjoy the things they enjoyed in youth. But, I don't think they realize that we've also expanded the period of life when we can learn to think, feel, and experience the largeness and splendor of life.

Conversations with Robertson Davies

Edited by J. Madison Davis

University Press of Mississippi

Jackson and London 1989